


Episode 6: Mind Games

by ZoidsFanatic



Series: Multiverse Series [6]
Category: Code Geass, Zoids (Anime & Toys)
Genre: Angst, Crack Crossover, Crossover, Crying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:40:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25929775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoidsFanatic/pseuds/ZoidsFanatic
Summary: When Dmitri and Ricky confront Van on Lelouch, he finally has to come to terms that Lelouch might not be who he thinks he is. Just who is Lelouch? And what is he planning?
Series: Multiverse Series [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881016
Kudos: 1





	Episode 6: Mind Games

**Author's Note:**

> Due to the episodic nature of this series, you'll need to start with the first "episode".

an, like all people, had things he disliked. He never liked Fiona's "special coffee" which has 50% salt, nor did he like fruit flies. He was also not really liking Dmitri and Ricky showing up all the time. It all started normally; Van was heading to town to do grocery shopping, and to do so he had to walk down a forested path. Nothing major. Until he heard a twig snapping behind him, and whipping around came face-to-face with the two men.

"Hello, Mr. Flyheight." Dmitri said with a grin.

"Dmitri. To what do I own the pleasure?" Van replied, taken aback when Ricky pulled out a loaded Raging Bull revolver from a side holster and pointed it at him. Despite threatening him, his bored expression never left his face nor did that unlit cigarette.

"I was thinking, Mr. Flyheight, of when we last met. I warned you about Lelouch but you wouldn't listen." Dmitri began to walk behind Ricky, tapping his fingers together. "I feel its time for me to share with you the truth. Of who he is."

"And that's why you're pointing a gun at me?" Van asked. Dmitri just laughed.

"You might say that. I don't want you trying to attack me or my assistant, feeling that you have to defend a wanted terrorist. You see, Mr. Flyheight, Lelouch is not just some stranger. He's a fallen prince, a former Emperor..." Dmitri paused and licked his lips. "Whispers abound that he's even a demon."

"What did he do that was so wrong?" Van asked, eyeing the barrel of the revolver pointed at him.

"Well, at first it seemed like he was doing good. He wanted to help an oppressed people. But soon enough, power and greed overtook him. He began to commit atrocities all in the name of his 'justice'. The world hated him, and when he was assassinated the world cheered." Dmitri answered him.

"Can't be assassinated if you're still alive." Van replied.

"That's just it. He's _alive_. He must have faked his own death. Now I'm curious as to what his motives are because he keeps jumping around before I can ever pinpoint his location. But... he trusts you, it would appear." Dmitri put his arms behind his back and walked up to Van. "Which is why, Mr. Flyheight, I am tasking you with asking him what are his motives and then reporting to me."

"You're wanting me to betray a friend?" Van asked.

"Is he really your friend? After all, you said it yourself, he was simply using you. Dmitri wasn't wrong, Van knew for a fact that Lelouch was scheming something. And, well, he did want to know himself.

"Fine." Van said, glaring at Dmitri and Ricky. "I'll do it." Ricky holstered his revolver while Dmitri clapped his hands.

"Wonderful!" He said with a grin.

* * *

"You want to know about me?" Lelouch asked Van, looking up from his desk at the other who was leaning against the side the door-frame. Lelouch's room was neat and tidy, save the walls which were covered in pictures and string right out of a detective movie and his bed which was covered in magazines featuring very buff men on the cover.

"Yes. I just had a talk with someone, and they said you were a terrorist. No more games, Lelouch, who are you really?" Van asked, folding his arms. Lelouch sighed and shook his head. He stood up, opened a desk drawer and pulled out his pistol. Without a word of warning, and to Van's horror, he put the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered the wall and desk, but to Van's horror Lelouch didn't fall; he was still standing tall.

"You're asking a question, Van, you _don't_ want to ask." Lelouch looked back up at Van, the bullet hole in his head healing itself. It was then that Van saw Lelouch's Geass was activated but before he could do anything, he found himself in a featureless white void. Standing opposite of him was Lelouch. "Some things, Van, should be kept secret."

"What the fuck did you… where am I… how are you _not_ dead?" He asked.

"Questions. Questions, questions, questions." Lelouch began to walk around, the gun still in his hand. "I once had a lot of questions myself. Eventually, I would have them answered. And I regret the day they were." He took a seat in the air, impatiently tapping the barrel of the gun to his head. "Go ahead, which question would you like me to answer."

"Where are we?" Van asked first.

"My mind." Lelouch replied.

"Would explain why it's empty." Van said under his breath. "Who are you? Really?"

"That's a harder question to answer, Van." Lelouch smiled. "Demon. Prince. Fallen Prince. Emperor. Terrorist. Savior. Hero and villain. Alpha and Omega." Dmitri never mentioned the megalomaniac tendencies, but Van already guessed that given Lelouch's flare for being the center of attention.

"How about your real name?" Van asked.

"Lelouch vi Britannia, 99th Emperor of Britannia." He bowed to Van. "At your service."

"You're an emperor?"

"Was an emperor." Lelouch snapped his fingers and a picture frame materialized. "In a forgotten time and forgotten place, I was the son to this man." The picture frame showed a very large and imposing man with an equally large and imposing wig. "Charles zi Britannia. My beloved father. A bastard." The picture changed to that of a younger woman with black hair. "And here is my beloved mother, Marianne vi Britannia. A bitch." The picture frame changed into an alien landscape, which then broke the borders of the picture and encompassed the entirety of the white void. "And here is the Sword of Akasha." Leouch waved his hands to the floating structure around him. In the distance Van could see a ringed planet, and was starting to wonder where this place was. "This is where it all ended for me." Lelouch ran his hand on one of the pillars. "And my parents. No one knew who built this place, no one knew its purpose... well my parents might have. They wished to kill the Gods, to reunite humanity into one being. But, I guess it's better to show you everything then tell you." Lelouch approached Van and poked him on his forehead. Immediately, Lelouch's entire life story flashed in Van's eyes from his upbringing to the supposed death of Marianne, to the exile in Japan, the war, what Lelouch did to survive, his rebellion, the people he hurt, his death and reincarnation. It nearly drove Van mad seeing all this at once. He collapsed to the ground, and felt his noise. It was bleeding.

"I vowed to protect Nunnally." He said, as the form of a young girl with brown hair appeared. Lelouch smiled at her, trying to tun a hand through her hair, but his hand just pasted through it. He frowned and snapped his fingers, the image disappearing. "To make a better world for her. Even if that world had to be rebuilt from the ashes. I would step over anyone, kill anyone, betray anyone, if it meant I could make her happy. Even you, Van."

"And there we have it." Van said, wiping the blood from his noise and shaking her head after his trip through Lelouch's memories. "The reason why you came to me. You didn't care about saving anyone else, all you wanted was to save your little sister."

"And here I mistook you as a fool." Lelouch smirked.

"Oh please, did you honestly expect that I would believe someone who appeared suddenly and told me I was a hero and they needed my help? I know the difference between my son calling me a hero because he thinks I am one to someone calling me a hero because they want something from me." Van smirked in return before Lelouch could carry on with a speech. "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Lelouch growled.

"You know well enough." Van folded his arms. "The people that followed you must have been thick. Following someone in a mask. Yet you presented yourself to me without a mask." He sighed and shook his head. "Do you know why _I_ followed you? Because I liked what you stood for. Because I saw firsthand, thanks to you, things I wouldn't generally think of. We did good things, the three of us." Lelouch was taken aback, but still held his resolve.

"Hmph. Then you don't know the first thing about manipulation."

"Lelouch, I have a six-year-old. Do you have any idea the amount of manipulation I have to do just to make him clean his room?" Van replied, before snapping his finger to make a picture frame appear. Unlike the one Lelouch summoned which had a dark oak frame, the one Van called forth had a gilded frame. Lelouch was rather confused on how Van could call forth _his_ memories, before occurring to him he did just give Van _all_ his memories. "Now, let's see what the big-bad-Lelouch really does." The picture frame began to flicker and play back a recent memory.

* * *

"The nerve of that man!" Lelouch mumbled to himself as he stormed around his room. "Missing his own daughter's wedding, just because of her sexual origination. I'd 'oughta…" He stopped and cupped his chin. "No… no I shouldn't. But it is her wedding." He stroked his chin. "I guess it couldn't hurt. This is Lynette and Yoshika's special day." He sighed, kicking himself already for what he was about to do. "If her and Yoshika's father are going to be stuck-up than I'll bring them by force!" He began to laugh to no one in particular before stopping to clear his throat. "I really need to stop doing that."

* * *

"My. How evil. Making a father attend his daughter's wedding." Van folded his arms again and looked at the picture frame. "What's this? More memories? Let's watch!" He grinned as the new memory played.

* * *

Lelouch sat in a small wooden cabin, reading a book and enjoying the sounds of the crackling fire when his eyes caught a glimpse of C.C standing in the doorway. Dressed in only a white shirt she walked over to Lelouch and sat in his lap, pushing the book aside and kissing him.

"You weren't there when I woke up." She whispered in his ear. "I hate when you do that." She began to nibble on his ear. As she did so, Lelouch began to slowly unbutton her shirt and…

* * *

"Let's stop that memory there." Van said, clearing his throat. The picture frame began to play another memory.

* * *

"Hey, Lelouch!" Rivalz slid into the seat next to Lelouch, interrupting his reading time. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Lelouch replied, putting the book aside.

"Why haven't you asked Shirley out yet, hmmm?" Rivalz grinned.

"We've been over this." Lelouch folded his arms and turned around, hiding the blush on his face. "We're just friends." It was at this point Shirley walked up to the two, while Lelouch had his back turned.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked, causing Lelouch to nearly jump out of his seat.

"Oh, nothing." Rivalz grin grew even slyer. "We were just talking about how Lelouch wanted to have lunch with you today, right Lelouch?" He elbowed him in the side.

"I… We…" Lelouch cleared his throat. "Yes. I figured we could eat together today, and I can help you with your essay. I heard you were having some problems." He rubbed the back of his head while Shirley's face lit up.

"S-Sure…" She replied, as Rivalz leaned back in his seat before falling right out of it.

* * *

By now Lelouch had his head in shame, but Van was determined. Lelouch started this, and Van was going to end it.

"Now here's a special one." He said, the frame beside him playing a final memory.

* * *

Lelouch just finished tucking in Nunnally, as he always did every night, and stroked her forehead.

"Big brother?" She asked.

"Yes, Nunnally?" He smiled in return.

"Do you think that one day I could see again?" That was quite the question, and Lelouch had to take a moment to think of something to say.

"Of course!" He smiled, but Nunnally only frowned.

"You're lying." She said bluntly.

"I'm not!" Lelouch replied defensively. "You're going to get your sight back; I'll make sure of that." He smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Big brother?" She asked again.

"Yes?"

"Will we every see our sibling again? Like Euphy?"

"Of course!" He replied. "I'm sure they miss us just as much as we miss them."

"I sure hope so." She sighed and turned to her side. "They're not mad at me for what happened?" Lelouch knew she referred to what happened with their mother.

"No! Nunnally, never think that! What happened to mother… it wasn't either of our faults." He gritted his teeth and tightened his fists. He was lying, of course, but not about their involvement, but the involvement of their father."

"Big brother, could you tell me a story?" Nunnally asked, which helped Lelouch relax a bit.

"Of course. What story would you like to hear?"

* * *

"So, a man with friends, family, people that love him." Van wagged a finger at Lelouch. "So where did it all go wrong?" He eyed Lelouch. "Tell me, or I'll bring back the memory."

"I wanted to protect Nunnally!" Lelouch yelled, tears streaming down his face. "I… I thought I was better than my father. Maybe if I was the one to create the better world… if I was the one that did it…" He gripped his hands so tight that blood began to run down them. "One day... C.C wasn't there. I was alone. So I came back here. Despite everything I did, even faking my death and ensuring that I would never see her again… the world went back to its own ways. Nunnally was in danger, the people I loved were no longer around... I thought my father was right but was doing it wrong." He collapsed to his knees, more tears rolling down his face and onto the floor. " _I_ was supposed to be the hero! _I_ was supposed to save the day, save the world!" By now Van had taken a seat next to Lelouch and patted his back. "I used the sword, Van. But it rejected me. The world... the world I wanted came into being but I was exiled from it. Nunnally... C.C, Kallen, Suzaku, Euphy... even my parents... my siblings. For the briefest moment I saw them all happy. A world of peace... but I never existed in this world." Lelouch was shaking. "For my sins... I was forced to wander the multiverse alone. I couldn't die. I could never return home. I kept trying to fix things, fix worlds."

"In the end... you got what you wanted. And then some." Van said.

"I don't care anymore!" Lelouch screamed. "I don't want my immortally! I don't want my Geass! I'm sick of fighting... I'm sick of dying..." He was sobbing uncontrollably. "I want to go home... Van... I want to go home..." Seeing Lelouch so weak, trembling and crying, Van couldn't help but pull him into a tight embrace. That broke Lelouch even more, who loudly cried and gripped Van tight. "I did bad things... I'm sorry! I just wanted to make people happy! I want to go home! I don't want any of this anymore! Please..."

"It's OK." Van said, putting his hand around the back of Lelouch's head and holding him as tight as he could. Lelouch was badly shaking, and his speech was just repeating now.

"I want to go home... I want my friends... I want to see Nunnally..." Van slowly rocked back-and-forth in place.

"It's OK, Lelouch... it's OK." He spoke softly, cradling Lelouch like a father would his upset child. Which worked out well for Van, seeing as he was a father. He really wished he knew something to say. His heart broke seeing Lelouch reduced to this, the same Lelouch that not only moments before was being grandiose. The same Lelouch who dragged Van into actual hell, now reduced to a crying mess. There was nothing Van could say, so instead he just held Lelouch close and let him cry, watching as the world around him slowly began to fade into white.

As the last parts of the Sword of Akasha faded away, the only thing left was the two men. Lelouch got up and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"The reason we went to hell was because I wanted information on my parents, which Alastor promised me in return for my service. All they said was everyone was gone. That it's my fault... that my fate is set in stone."

"Yeah, the same parents that you ended up erasing from existence much like how you were erased from existence... yet somehow still existing. Makes sense they'd tell you to fuck off." Van said, getting back to his feet.

"While we were doing that... Yoshika and Lynette..."

"No! No, Lelouch, stop that. Don't blame yourself for that. Because guess what happened? They're happily married now and Yoshika is running a clinic! We went to hell and made actual, honest-to-God demons stop fighting and resolve their differences. We saved hundreds of girls from a fate worse then death... Lelouch, I'll be blunt and say you're a drama queen. But you're _my_ drama queen. You want to rewrite yourself as the villain, as the martyr, but you never stop to see the impact you leave behind! Even at your darkest moments, Lelouch, you still wanted to do right by someone else." Lelouch didn't speak, but only wiped tears from his eyes. Van smiled and placed his hands on Lelouch's shoulder. "Lelouch, I've fought plenty of bad people in my time. Maybe in another time, another life, we'd be enemies. But here and now? You're my friend. I don't care what type of exile you got yourself in. We're going to find a way to undo it. To get you back to your sister and friends and family. But for the meantime, you have a home here you know?"

"Nothing ever good happens to those around me." Lelouch said, before Van outright smacked him with a headbutt that knocked the two back to reality. "Oooowwww. Uncalled for, Van." Lelouch rubbed his head.

"Well, that was for shooting yourself in the head." Van said, seeing Lelouch's gun on the ground. He picked it up, removed the magazine, and cocked it to release the last bullet before throwing the gun on the bed. "Immortal or not, I don't want to see you _ever_ point a gun to your head."

"Sure." Lelouch replied, the bruise on his forehead fading as fast as it appeared.

"Secondly, no matter what, you and Yoshika are my friends. Through thick or thin, I don't let my friends down. So you keep that in mind the next time you want to have a little drama queen moment. Got it?"

"Got it." Lelouch replied. "Um, Van... one thing?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you... not bring up me crying? Or us hugging. I think people here finally think I'm cool." The two men smiled at each other and laughed.

"Sure thing, Mr. Cool. I've got to go, I need to pick up groceries. You're more then welcomed to stop by, we're having company but I'm sure you'll like them. Old friend of mine by the name Raven. You'll get along. He's almost like you." Van said, heading for the door.

"I'll be there." Lelouch grinned, watching Van leave his small home. Right outside his door was Dmitri and Ricky, both on opposite sides of the doorway.

"How'd it go?" Dmitri asked, leaning against the wall, his arms folded. Van didn't reply and continued to walk away. "Mr. Flyheight?" Van stopped, turned around with a smile on his face.

"I don't think he's this big-bad threat you make him out to be." Van said. Dmitri closed his eyes and smiled, shaking his head.

"I can't tell if you're completely stupid or smarter than you let on, Mr. Flyheight. I choose the latter." He pushed himself forward with one foot. "Come along, Ricky. I think we can consider our friend in safe hands."

"As you wish, Boss." Ricky followed him, leaving Van alone and with his thoughts as he walked home. He took a great risk with Lelouch just now and hoped to the bottom of his heart that he wouldn't be wrong. But Lelouch was his friend, and just as Van never faulted on a friend, so too did his friends never arrive during his hour of need.


End file.
